Floral waste in Malkajgiri turned into incense sticks

Around 7,000 metric tonnes of floral waste was collected under the programme.

Hyderabad: The Malkajgiri Municipal Corporation (MMC) has converted floral waste collected during the Ganesh Chaturthi and Bathukamma festivals into useful products.

The civic body took up the initiative in partnership with Pakka Organics. Flowers offered during the festivals were collected and processed instead of being allowed to mix with general municipal garbage.

“Around 7,000 metric tonnes of floral waste was collected under the programme. Of this, more than 6,400 metric tonnes was collected during Ganesh idol immersion, while around 400 metric tonnes was generated during the Bathukamma festival,” MMC additional commissioner (sanitation) Raghu Prasad was quoted as saying by The Times of India.

The MMC set up kiosks at major immersion points to ensure that the flowers offered during immersion were collected and segregated from regular waste. The flowers were dried, converted into powder and mixed with herbs, natural resins and wood powder to manufacture incense sticks.

According to MMC Commissioner Vinay Krishna, scientific collection helped convert the floral waste into useful products. It also reduced the load on the waste management system.